To change anything you need good tools. This especially applies to the quest of achieving the New Year’s Resolution.   Since shifting our habits involves transformations that have to happen on the psychological (mental and emotional) and physiological (body) planes, it follows that our tools have to impact both those arenas as well.   One such tool is the strategic use of the ability to imagine a new reality. Otherwise known as visualization, this practice has brought success in everything from athletic achievement to job interviews to healing disease.  It works by expanding the power of the mind to unite with the senses of the body to create a blueprint for consciousness to follow into actual creation.  In other words, by using your imagination in this way,  you have now experienced what you want to manifest and that gives the mind the spark it needs to light the path towards that visualized outcome.

There are many ways to use visualization but here is one set of steps that may help you overcome the usual obstacles that come with a New Year’s Resolution.

1)   Before starting the practice, take some time to think about what the missing ingredients are to you moving into fulfilling your goal. Examples might include patience, clarity or energy.

2)   Now imagine someone that truly exemplifies those qualities, whether it’s a character in a film, historical figure or someone you know. The idea here is to allow yourself to really explore what those assets look, feel and sound like so that the connection is made of how to cultivate those qualities in your own domain.

3)   Now imagine yourself as if these qualities were already a natural part of your repertoire.  Visualize being in your own body as you confidently deliver a presentation or feel the rise in energy to get up to go for a morning run.

4)   If negative scenarios or voices of self-doubt emerge, use your power of visualization to see yourself getting rid of them. Personally, I like to think of a big cartoon foot, like the ones you see in Monty Python stomping on any of the BS my fears may introduce into the picture.

5)   Let the gumption rise to bring the desirable qualities into your daily living.  Then practice those qualities in big and small ways.

6)   Repeat your visualization a few times a day, even for just a few minutes to get your mind and body primed to follow the positive path you are forging.